Tell the Truth, Billy Squier's final album for Capitol Records, proved to be heartbreaking experience for the rocker. Tragically, one can only guess why the label even chose to release this record. The following theories spring to mind. Perhaps the album was a tax write off, a favor to Squier, or, worse, released to fulfill the singer's contractual obligation (which sometimes proves to be a cheaper proposition rather than buying the artist out of his/her deal). Released at a time when Squier's public profile was, shall we say, less than stellar, the label chose to completely overlook the album. To make things worse, in the wake of the Seattle explosion, Capitol had just experienced another changing of the guard.

Ferras was born at Le Touquet in 1933, he began studying the violin with his father, who was a pupil of Marcel Chailley. He entered the Conservatoire de Nice as a student of Charles Bistesi in 1941, and in 1943 obtained the First Prize. In 1944 he went to the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1946 he won the First Prize in both disciplines (violin and chamber music), and started his performing career with the Pasdeloup Orchestra under Albert Wolff, and later Paul Paray. He worked with Romanian violinist and composer George Enescu, who also acted as an instructor. Ferras premiered the Violin Concerto by Federico Elizalde, under the direction of Gaston Poulet.

This is an album with a difference. If you’re looking for songs that grind, you’ll find them here in the title track, “The Prophets and The Planet” and “The Saints.” If you’re looking for inspirational songs, you’ll find them here in “Die Empty” and “Time Goes On”. But if hot songs are all you’re after you’re going to miss the true gems of this piece. The Prophets and The Planet is not just a collection of great songs, instead it’s one of the few concept albums of its kind. It leads those who care to follow through a deep cavern of truth and expression that stirs up broken dreams and bleeds hope for every life…

Froggatt's debut album was a bland singer/songwriter effort, mixing in parts of troubadour folk and late-'60s middle-of-the-road British pop/rock. At times, particularly on some of the more bittersweet tunes, it's a little reminiscent of the softer aspects of the early Bee Gees (check "Lonely Old World" for a dose of that). Some of the more hale pop-folk-rock cuts might vaguely bring Donovan's more mainstream work to mind, although Donovan was miles better. Occasional tracks like the traditional "Corinna Corrina" and the guitar instrumental "Sonnet by Hartley Cain" tread close to contemporary folk. But others deploy hokily dated and at times unbearably cutesy orchestration, such as "Red Balloon (Callow-La-Vita)" (covered for a British hit by the Dave Clark Five) and the oompah-horn-laden "Roly." It's a peculiar endeavor that seems unsure of whether to aim for a frivolous pop audience or a more serious folky one, but the lack of focus is less of a problem than the mediocrity of the music. [The 2004 CD reissue on Repertoire adds a dozen bonus tracks from 1968-1969 singles, though three of these are just the single mixes of songs from the album.]

The Australian World Orchestra is an orchestra like no other: the finest Australian classical musicians from the leading orchestras around the world, come home to join with the top Australian-based players in one thrillingly talented super-ensemble. With 95 electrifying musicians, representing more than 40 orchestras, together under one roof, the Australian World Orchestra is, in the words of Sir Simon Rattle, 'one of the great orchestras of the world'. Now reissued at a special price, Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 is the perfect choice of repertoire for such a brilliant ensemble: grand in scope, intimate yet profound in its emotional journey, and radiantly beautiful.

The repertoire of Finnish music for violin and orchestra is full of hidden gems, with a substantial amount of works remaining unperformed and unpublished. The music on this recording represents a style of light classical music that was popular from the 1930s to the 1960s but remains largely forgotten today. All of the composers represented here created highly lyrical and charming works, including Uuno Klami who, after Sibelius, is considered one of the most important composers in the history of Finnish music.

In spite of the differences of time and distance, the choral works of the Australian composer Andrew Anderson (born in Melbourne in 1971) further the English cathedral tradition of such composers as Finzi and Howells, in music concerned particularly with lyricism and with clarity and directness of expression.

Mendelsson | Ravel | Sollima marks Marie Bégin’s inaugural recording as first violin with Quatuor Saguenay. Born after the quartet’s founding, Marie brings a freshness and colour to this album that is particularly well suited to the quartets of Mendelssohn and Ravel, who were in their late twenties when they composed these works. This recording also includes Federico II, the folk-inspired first movement from Giovanni Sollima’s 2000 cycle, “Viaggio in Italia.”

Antonín Dvorák's Stabat Mater, Op. 58, truly merits the adjective "tragic"; it was written after the deaths of two of the composer's children in succession, and his grief rolled out in great, Verdian waves. There are several strong recordings on the market, including an earlier one by conductor Jiří Bělohlávek himself, but for the combination of deep feeling, technical mastery from musicians and singers who have spent their lives getting to know the score, and soloists who not only sound beautiful but are seamlessly integrated into the flow, this Decca release may be the king of them all. To what extent was the strength of the performance motivated by Bělohlávek's likely fatal illness (he died days after the album entered the top levels of classical charts in the spring of 2017)? It's hard to say, although he also delivered top-notch performances of Dvorák's Requiem in his last days. The members of the Prague Philharmonic Choir sing their hearts out in the gigantic, shattering opening chorus, which has rarely if ever had such a mixture of the impassioned and the perfectly controlled. Sample the chorus "Virgo virginium praeclara" to hear the magically suspended quality Bělohlávek brings out of the singers in lightly accompanied passages.

The "Greatest Hits & Remixes" series continues! This time it is dedicated to an institution of Italo Disco and Eurodisco music: Mike Mareen. In 1982, the native of Luneburg in Northern Germany founded his own label "Night 'n' Day Records". Mike Mareen celebrated his commercial breakthrough in 1986 with the song "Love Spy". It reached TOP 20 positions in Germany and was sold more than 6 million times worldwide. CD1 contains an overview of the hits by Mike Mareen incl. a megamix. CD2 contains his best remixes and extended versions.

Original melodies by pianist and composer Louis Dominique Roy get their first airing on Rêves enclos, a new recording with baritone Olivier Laquerre. Roy’s songs are set to poems by some of Québec’s greatest poets, including Émile Nelligan, Alfred DesRochers, Arthur de Bussières, Hector de Saint-Denys-Garneau, and Gilles Vigneault. The composer accompanies Laquerre on these Québécois melodies, several of which also feature Sébastien Lépine, cello, and Louis-Philippe Marsolais, horn.